The present disclosure relates generally to sensors and methods of making sensors and, more specifically, to sensors having disturbance elements and features for improving thermal, electrical, and/or mechanical properties of the sensors.
Thermal and electrical conductivity are strongly connected. In many applications a low electrical resistance and a high thermal resistance is desired but may be difficult to achieve. In addition, mechanical stability and high thermal resistance are contradicting requirements. Optimizing all three properties may be difficult as improving one property may negatively impact one of the other properties. Sensors may be implemented as microelectromechanical systems (“MEMS”) devices and may be configured to rely on a simple-to-implement temperature measurement. One example of this type of sensor may be a bolometer.
A bolometer is a device for measuring the power of incident electromagnetic radiation via the heating of a material and measuring the resulting temperature change. A bolometer contains a temperature sensing device, e.g. a diode, a resistor with a high-temperature coefficient, or a resistor implemented in a high-temperature superconductor cooled to a critical temperature all on a thermally insulated platform. Wires may be configured to connect the platform to associated readout electronics. The wires may be configured with a low electrical resistance and a high thermal resistance, so as to not reduce the sensitivity of the sensor. This is because the signal of the sensor is a temperature change, and thus it is advantageous to prevent thermal losses when transmitting thermal information along the wires.
The wires may also be configured as holding arms for mechanically or structurally supporting the sensor elements. The holding arms may be configured with mechanical stability to support the sensor.